One thing that we love about the lectures for the SPORT exhibit has been the wonderful assistance provided by the Women Sports Foundation, who helped us bring some incredible athletes to share the podium with photographers. They introduced us to Aimee Mullins who came to speak with Howard Schatz, and Laila Ali who spoke with Mikki Willis.

Last night was another great pairing - this one with a female athlete AND a female photographer - the lovely lenslady Marla Rutheford and the bubbly Olympic medalist Jessica Mendoza.

From the way these two ladies played off of each other and cracked each other up you would think you were a fly on the wall at a fun sleepover, not in the room with innovating industry leaders.

For all the laughter and fun the two were very serious in their discussion of their experiences and the not so charming realities about making it in the industry of sports photography.

Marla spoke to the challenges she has faced in developing a trust relationship with her subjects, resorting to charm, intellect, a lot of humor and even a little fibbing so they would feel comfortable posing for artistic semi-nudes.

Jessica discussed the wake-up call moment she had when one of the first images of her in circulation was digitally enhanced by the publishers, causing her to question whether or not her appearance should play such a central role in the coverage of athletics.

They both shared captivating stories about these and other turning points in their extraordinary careers.

...and try as they might they could not stop cracking each other up!

At the end of the day we were just thrilled to be in the presence of such positive, accomplished and inspiring ladies.

(All photos © Unique for the Space)

Jimmy Chin came to the Space to offer an IRIS Nights Lecture about his unique form of sports photography. What's so unusual about Jimmy's work you might ask? First of all he comes off as the nicest most unassuming guy you could ever meet.

He's almost cartoon character cute with an ever-present smile and a talent for understatement that would be hard to beat.

You would never guess by looking at him that he has climbed to the top of Mt. Everest a few times...and skied down from the top! Yes - this is him dutifully recording his friends walking across a ridge so that they could get to the best face to ski down. That little thing popping up from the ridge all the way to the right is a human being.

Jimmy said "we encountered a few minor obstacles getting across..." which meant that they had to rappel down one side of a gap in the ridge more than 40 feet until they could get the right angle to SWING to the other side of the gap - AT 28,000+ FEET!!!! - where they could keep creeping along until they got to this side:

Then they skied down at a descent angle of more than 50 degrees.

The whole time he described this as is it were the most normal thing in the world. Or should I say the most normal thing at the TOP of the world.

And here's an intimate little portrait of the top of the world. The weather gets a little weird 5 miles up - who knew?

Can you tell what this is? Sure! Just a person walking across some rickety ladders strapped to each other to form a rickety bridge that I wouldn't walk across at 10 feet no less 28,000.

But THAT is what these crazy mountain people do!

A couple of Jimmy's mountain goat friends came to lecture to show support, including Emile Hirsch. Back in January Jimmy led a weeklong all-star Summit on the Summit expedition up Mount Kilimanjaro to bring awareness to the climate summit. Emile joined as did Jessica Biel, Lupe Fiasco, Isabel Lucas and Elizabeth Gore.

That kind of activism takes dedication.

Emile was kind enough to pose afterwards with his mountain mentor Jimmy.

So that was what Jimmy and Emile did on their Winter vacation...while I caught up on my Tivo'd episodes of Heroes.

Last night Kevin Lynch brought the goods.

First he brought an amazing presentation of his work including celebrity portraiture, film posters, his exhaustive and up close coverage of the UFC fighters...

...including some very challenging before and after bout pics.

...and some chilling portraits.

...as well as an abstract series that he co-created with his wife called "Watercolors."

Then... to make it all the more real... Kevin brought UFC fighter Brandon Vera to sit and talk with him.

Brandon was so gracious and polite it was hard to imagine him breaking noses and spilling blood.


...but his input was very interesting. He spoke about his contemporaries and about the logistics of growing a 'career' in Ultimate Fighting.

Afterwards they both stayed standing through a round of Q&A and the onslaught of fans.

Kevin also brought his urban-legend-rare and giant book, OCTAGON. The book, which has more than 800 four-color and black-and-white photographs, was printed and hand bound in Italy, weighing over 50 pounds.

It ranges in price from $2,500 to $7,500, depending on the edition, and is truly a work of art.

But for those who wanted to purchase a book for Kevin or Brandon to sign, there were some more affordable volumes on hand.

...and plenty of opportunity to press the flesh and mug for the cameras...

Oh! And did I mention that Kevin also brought his mom?

She even came back afterwards and got her son to sign a few books.

(cute!)

In short, Kevin really knocked us out. Thank you Kevin, Brandon and Mom. Y'all come back now y'hear?

(All images © Unique for the Space)

Last Thursday, our Space was graced with a pair of the best eyes in the business - Jimmy ('only my mother calls me James') Colton - photo editor for Sports Illustrated.

Jimmy prepped us for his presentation by informing us that during the Olympics his job entailed reviewing 319,000 unedited images to narrow down to 70.

That's right: 319,000>70. Crazy, right? Then he showed us the 70 or so images - and he proved his point! When we first met Jimmy at our SPORT opening, he told a wonderful story about how he sees his work as digging for the jewel in the lightbox.

Jimmy showed us how SI became the source of the 'photo finish' for the famous Phelps 100m race. In this case the jewel was not too hard to find.

Each of his presentations were impeccably produced and superbly scored. The Olympics, Super Bowl, and my favorite, the Ooohs and Ahhhs reel.

As is often the case, Jimmy's lecture was attended by some of our other IRIS Nights stars, on this occasion including Lucy Nicholson...

...and Rick Rickman...

...and Manuello (Manny) Paganelli...

Needless to say, after the lecture Jimmy was swarmed by appreciative guests.

Many guests asked Jimmy to sign the complimentary issues of Sports Illustrated he brought along as lecture favors!

Always the gentleman - he was happy to oblige. Thank you Mr. Colton. The pleasure was ours!